Developing and Testing a New Goal Taxonomy: Accounting for the Complexity of Ambiguity and Political Support

Scholars have long argued clear organizational goals enhance performance whereas ambiguous goals diminish it. Yet, such arguments often overlook the beneficial aspects of ambiguous goals. Therefore, this study proposes and tests a new goal taxonomy that examines the dynamic, mixed effects of goal ambiguity on employees in public organizations. The taxonomy proposed accounts for varying degrees of goal ambiguity and political support. It also considers how different combinations of political support and goal ambiguity affect employees' role clarity. Findings from a latent class analysis support the proposed taxonomy and indicate role clarity is at its lowest levels when employees confront unsupportive political bodies and ambiguous goals. However, the level of role clarity employees experience in an organization differs when other combinations of political support and goal ambiguity are considered.